All this and Vincent too!
by kittencupcake
Summary: Yuffie already has so much to cope with: bad grades, being one of the most hated girls in her school, being headoverheels for Cloud and now... complicated love triangles? [Clouffie][Yuffentine][Reffie] AU, highschool fic. STORY COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters… but I can dream, right?

_Usually, I despise High School fics for the Final Fantasy games BUT I promised I'd write this for a friend so… here I am. Please don't hurt me, it's cold and there are wolves outside._

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Yuffie Kisaragi flicked her fringe out of her face, ignoring the constant yells of "Emo!" from the 'popular' kids as she walked through the cafeteria. She found it more amusing than anything else most of the time as they used the same remark toward her friend Cloud, with the messy blonde hair. In any case, she was hungry and she had no time to worry about such trivialities. She trudged through to the usual table where she met her friends and sat herself down, tossing her bag carelessly to the floor. Once again, she'd forgotten to bring lunch to school and was in a grumpy mood… however, she instantly perked up when Cloud sat next to her. In her eyes, he was by far the most perfect being she'd ever laid eyes on; he was intelligent, good at sport, devastatingly attractive and he seemed to have everything… however this thought was quickly interrupted when Aeris sat next to Cloud and began to engage in conversation.

It's not that Aeris was a bad person, in fact, she was probably the nicest girl that Yuffie had ever met. The fact was, Yuffie wanted Cloud to herself and Aeris was the only thing in the way. Yuffie was Cloud's best friend, despite the fact that when he was quiet and pensive, she was loud and tended to think out loud, much to the annoyance of her classmates. He seemed to carry himself with such grace whereras she was probably the most clumsy girl in the school, shop displays would fall over if she so much as looked at them, talk about embarrassing.

Yuffie decided to walk away, looking for Tifa, who was probably still at Lacrosse training. Tifa was the image of elegance and femininity… yet she was also incredibly tomboyish in the sense that she studied every martial art under the sun and was on practically every sport team. Unlike Yuffie, she was popular with both genders, managed to get good grades and, secretly, Yuffie thought that she'd be a better match for Cloud than Aeris. 'That is, of course, if I couldn't have him!' she thought to herself.

Once again ignoring the supposed insults being hurled at her as she walked through the school grounds, she made her way to the school oval, hoping that she'd catch the end of the game. No such luck, they were walking off the field as she arrived! With a sigh, she waited underneath a tree by the oval. It was early autumn editor note: or Fall, whatever! and still rather hot outside. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead with a sigh. When did seeing your friends become so complicated?

After a few minutes, Yuffie noticed that she was not alone. She turned to face the other person who was waiting there and was incredibly surprised. He was the school's only "scary goth" kid, she'd had a crush on him with months. Surely, he was no Cloud, but he was still very attractive and he seemed to hide her infatuation with Cloud from her friends. He nodded a hello in acknowledgement and she blushed…. Then she realized something, she was alone with Vincent, THE Vincent! Now was her chance to talk to him and make a good impression! "Um… hi." She said lamely, hoping he hadn't noticed her nervousness.

"Hi."

She could see this was going nowhere but refused to give up just yet.

"So..." she quickly though about a topic of conversation "how's the band going?"

Vincent smiled at this, causing Yuffie to blush once more. It was a little known fact in their school that he was actually the bassist in the band "Thirty Years Sleep", yet she was one of their biggest fans. They weren't on the verge of becoming famous but they were quite talented nonetheless and the only time the two ever conversed was during their gigs.

"I knew you'd ask that." His face turned serious for a moment "I'm quitting though."

Yuffie looked horrified "Why would you do that?"

"I've just had enough…" He gave a secretive sort of half smile, as if he wasn't quite telling the whole story. He examined her shocked expression for a moment and patted her on the head "it's ok, I'm finding another band as we speak, I'd die without music." It was moments like this, Yuffie hated being short.

She realized how much taller he was than her, he was positively towering over her… it'd strain her neck to kiss him, she thought to herself. 'Wait, Yuffie! We're not going out _yet_!' she stopped for another moment, what did she mean _yet_? She liked Cloud! However, being so lost in thought, she hadn't noticed him looming over her with an amused expression.

"What are you so quiet about?" he asked her, making her nearly jump out of her skin.

"Um… I was just thinking…" she searched her mind for ideas "…how lovely and shiny your hair is!"

He looked incredibly pleased at this, he was quite a vain young man and comments like this fed his vanity further.

"Um… can I touch it?" she asked suddenly, clasping her hands over her mouth the second after she'd asked it. Now he'd think she was some kind of freak. Instead of looking disgusted, he smirked at her but shook his head.

"It's really greasy, I haven't washed it in a few weeks."

Yuffie looked revoulted for a second… although that would explain why it was so unnaturally shiny.

He spoke again, noticing her strange facial expression "…but I'll wash it tonight, so if you can find me tomorrow, I'd even let you _braid_ it. I think your friend is here now." With that he walked off and Yuffie realized that Tifa was now standing behind her. She winced, waiting for Tifa to make some painfully embarrassing comment about this but luckily, the bell went and she hurried off to class.

The second she arrived at English, she thought about what had just happened. Personally, she'd always taken him for a quiet, mysterious type but her fantasies had really been crushed as she realized that he was some vain, arrogant, girly-boy… why did she find that so attractive? Then she realized something else, he'd asked her to find him tomorrow… did that mean that he _enjoyed_ talking to her?

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**End chapter 1.**

So what did you think? Sorry if they seem really OOC. In any case, let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters… I'm sorry!

_I'm really surprised that people actually –liked- this fic. Thanks You'll see where the pairings are going in due course so… yeah, just keep reading and see how it turns out._

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As she walked to school the next day, all of her friends seemed to know about her talking to Vincent the previous day. She gave a very annoyed look at Tifa, despite the fact that she actually sort of –enjoyed- the attention she was getting for once. Even Cloud had something to say but, much to her disappointment, he didn't seem to mind at all. Damn.

It didn't take long before she found Vincent again, or rather, until he found her. He walked airily through the cafeteria during their lunch break and, overtaken by nerves, she pretended not to see him. Aeris, however, said rather loudly "Look Yuffie, it's your boyfriend!" causing her to blush immensely, especially at the prospect that he might have heard. However, she refused to be humiliated by Aeris, regardless of whether Aeris actually _meant_ to embarrass her or not, and maintained conversation with Tifa and Cloud.

Still, he _was_ attractive and she found herself glancing over every few seconds before she noticed him making some arm gestures… hang on, was he asking her to walk over? She looked over again, unsure. He repeated the gesture, somewhat impatiently and she looked away. Clearly, he wasn't gesturing to her as he'd walked off by the time she looked over. She sighed disappointedly and grudgingly continued her conversation with Tifa about whether or not the school hotdogs were actually made of meat, I mean, you seriously had to wonder sometimes.

All of a sudden, when they were down to debating on whether they used rat-meat or pidgeon, another voice joined the conversation, causing her to practically jump out of her skin. "Actually, I'd have to say that it's made out of stray cats… the meat's rather stringy sometimes." With this, she felt a hand on her shoulder and, before she knew it, Vincent Valentine had turned her around so that she was now facing him. Tifa watched with amusement as he led her away by the arm but said nothing.

After several minutes of walking through the campus in silence, Yuffie realized where they were going, it was back to that tree they were at the previous day. She sat down underneath it with a sigh, dropping her bag by her side, pulled out some Pocky and began to chew on it. A few minutes of peaceful silence (besides her chewing) passed before she eventually spoke. "Do you… want some?" she asked slowly, unsure of what to say.

Vincent chuckled and carefully took out a stick of Pocky from the packet… then another and another. 'It appears,' thought Yuffie, smirking 'that Mr rockstar has a bit of a sweet-tooth'. She said nothing for a moment and then changed the subject. "So… did you end up washing your hair?" she grinned.

"I most certainly did."

Yuffie ran her fingers through the front of his hair, it was as silky and soft as she had imagined it to be. She pulled a hair tie out of her bag and began to braid it like he'd suggested the day before and after a few minutes, she was giggling at the sight.

"What?" he asked, offended that she might be laughing at his appearance.

"I'm sorry!" she said, trying her best to stifle her laughter "…but you just look so… so… pretty!"

He looked amused and positively filled with his vain pride. It was times like this that she seriously wondered about his sexuality. A positively evil thought filled her mind and before she knew it, she'd blurted out possibly the most embarrassing of questions:

"At the end of the year, can we swap uniforms for a day?"

He looked slightly disgusted and she took it as a cue to continue

"I mean, you're so pretty that I want to see if you'd pass as a girl…"

Vincent looked slightly horrified at this. "No."

"But…"

"Yuffie, no."

"…alright."

And within moments, they were back on more important topics such as music, movies, books and just about anything they could think of. She was so completely immersed in conversation that she didn't even hear the bell siren at the end of lunch until he reminded her about it minutes later. She seemed to walk with more spring in her step and didn't even notice if the popular kids were shouting abuse anymore.

Most of her friends found it absolutely adorable and teased her about it constantly… Except Cloud.

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_So what'd you think? The pacing might be a bit different from the last chapter but keep on reading, I'm pretty new to writing fanfics so things might be a bit strange at first. Sorry! And thanks SO MUCH to those who reviewed the first chapter, you ROCK._


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: No, I –still- don't own Final Fantasy. Stop asking!

_I realized that I haven't really mention much about what Yuffie does at home and poor Cloud has kind of been ignored in the last chapter. I'm sorry to the Clouffie fans! Because of this, I'm going to focus more on him now, without giving up on Vincent either. Let me know what you think._

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Yuffie was exhausted by the time she arrived home that night… and it was only Wednesday! She raided the refrigerator in her massive kitchen and retreated to her room, her private sanctuary, with her hands filled with food. People at her school scarcely realized her wealth as, while she didn't wear rags to school or shop solely at thrift stores, she didn't possess that common air of snobbery that so many other rich people seemed to possess. She was rather down-to-earth and opinionated about most things and had decided that she would live alone in the suburbia near the school, as opposed to the $12 million mansion that her father resided in.

She stumbled into her bedroom, shoving the door so that she could actually enter and kicking the piles of clothes, homework, posters and just about everything else on her floor out of the way so that she could walk to her baby: her PC. She spent unhealthy amounts of time chatting to friends online or watching DVDs in her room. Good thing that her father paid the electricity bills, really.

This particular Wednesday night, no-one really interesting was online. In fact, only Cloud, Vincent and Aeris were. Damn. In any case, she began chatting to Cloud on IM.

**Pockyqueen: **Heyy Cloudy

**Cloud: **Hey.

**Pockyqueen:** How are you doing? I haven't really seen much of you lately… 

**Cloud: **not much.

As you could see, she obviously whipped him into a verbal frenzy the second she logged on. She sighed and took a sip of her chocolate milk. She was hoping that he'd be incredibly jealous about her talking to Vincent but so far, no luck. Another message flashed on her screen.

**Cloud: **You've been talking to Vincent a lot lately.

**Cloud: **Do you still like him?

_This_ was more interesting… but now she was in such a painful situation. Sure, she –liked- Vincent but she was in _love_ with Cloud? Should she tell Cloud that she liked Vincent and risk Cloud losing interest? She took the coward's way out.

**Pockyqueen:** brb.

**Cloud: **ok.

She decided to check her emails instead, that would pass the time. So far, it was nothing but SPAM and boring chain letters… then there was one from Vincent.

**From**: Vincent Valentine Yuffie Kisaragi Strife Lifestream ticket for sale.  
**Message: **

_I need to sell a ticket for the Lifestream concert,  
If you're interested, email back._

_-Vincent._

She thought of a reply for a while and the best she could come up with was:

_How much?_

_-Yuffie._

Great, Yuffie. Just great. All of a sudden she was bored with the internet. She hated the fact that she was becoming so fixated on Vincent, after all, she wanted Cloud and no-one else. She logged off and drank the rest of her chocolate milk, planning what she'd do next and remembered that she'd promised to spend Saturday with Cloud. Now she just wanted the week to be over, she wanted it to be Saturday with Cloud and without the distraction of Vincent.

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_Please R&R, I'd really appreciate feedback. This is one of my first fanfics, as I've mentioned before, so I'd like to know what needs improvement. Thanks._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't think –anyone- on would even CLAIM to own Final Fantasy VII because, clearly, we don't. Unless one of us works for Square Enix or something. The point is, I don't work for Square-Enix, I don't own the characters… ok?

_That last chapter was pretty frustrating to write, back to school now, where this fic BELONGS. Love to those that have reviewed so far, you're my hero 3 As someone has mentioned, yes, the characters are kinda OOC for their typical characters so I'm going to justify this a bit:_

_Firstly, neither Yuffie nor Vincent really get that much characterization I the game, for a number of reasons. Personally, I don't think that any of the characters got nearly enough characterization… but that's just me… still, they don't because they are EXTRA characters, they aren't necessary to the storyline and you CHOOSE to have them in your party. Due to this, they aren't in many of the dialogue bits of the story and you don't really get much of an idea how they'd react to things._

_Furthermore, I don't think that Vincent would always remain silent and have "…" as an answer if he was in highschool. In my fic, he reacts more like he would as a Turk than he would after the whole Lucrecia thing (though she –does- get a mention a bit later on). He'd hang out with the 'slightly alternative' group. Read: the Turks. Why? They're about the same age and they all have complimentary personalities. I always imagined him as the type of guy who, rather than always being silent, brooding and having angsty, "my life is pain" kind of dialogue, takes time to think about what he's going to say and won't speak unnecessarily but when you do get a reply, it's guaranteed to be intelligent, maybe even witty or filled with dark humour. He appreciates the fine things in life._

_As for Yuffie, I don't think that she's a hyper, bouncing-off-the-walls-while-on-sugar-high type. She speaks her mind, even if it sounds rude or blunt, she has lots of energy and may be childish sometimes but remember, her mother's died and she's been through a whole lot so in some ways, she's mature beyond her time._

_As for having Sephy in this fic, I'm not really sure. Maybe. He was in the CC list of Vincent's email, I was thinking of making him be in the band that Vinnie quits._

_Well, this has been an unnecessarily long Author note. Sorry about that --_

_Please keep reading! _

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Yuffie walked into school that Thursday morning with her head held high. She was now more determined than ever to get Cloud. She had started to cherish the time they had together in class. In class, she had no rival for attention except, perhaps, the work; in class, there were no distractions and, perhaps most important, in class, there was no Vincent.

After half an hour of patiently watching Cloud work, she poked him in the side… no reaction. Great. She started to tickle him on the side of his ribs, his only ticklish spot, he twitched slightly but continued working. Finally, she decided to break the silence.

"Cloud?"

"mm…?" he was chewing on his pen, concentrating on their English work. She poked him playfully in the ribs

"Pay attention to me… you've been concentrating on this for nearly a whole lesson!" she said in the cutest voice she could muster for such an ungodly hour in the morning, why did people actually _work_ at 8am? Wait… now it was 8:35...

Cloud sighed, put down his pen and faced her. 'Yes!' thought Yuffie, 'I finally got through to him!' Then she looked at his slightly annoyed facial expression.

"Let me finish this last question, ok?" he asked, exasperated "then I'm all yours."

She nodded and left him back to his work, waiting for him to talk but knowing that he wouldn't. She leant her head against his shoulder and slept through the class, not noticing a tiny smile escape his lips as she did so.

By the time recess came, she was no longer tired, simply hungry. She rummaged her pockets for money… none. Great. At least she had some leftover Doritos in her bag. Once more, she tossed her bag to the cafeteria floor and sat with Tifa, idly chatting. It was amazing how much she'd missed this in the last few days. Aeris wasn't at school today, odd considering, so she was also able to talk to Cloud in between his texting Aeris. Yuffie was curious to see what he'd write, he didn't seem the type to write 'I love you' in a message. She giggled, he probably wrote highly impersonal texts like: 'I need my Biology book back' although, Aeris wasn't in their Bio class. Still, you get the idea.

The next class, Bio, wasn't any more productive than English. Cloud was so utterly wrapped up in their work that he didn't even seem to notice if Yuffie was there. Her face fell, he was concentrating more than usual, had she done something wrong? 'I wonder if Vincent's at school today?' she asked herself. At least he paid attention to her, he was certainly a better listener than Cloud, even though he never really said much either.

By lunchtime, she was ready to hang herself from the rafters with boredom before Vincent came along, once more tapping her on the shoulder. In his hand, was a concert ticket… that's right, he was selling a Lifestream concert ticket.

"It's yours for $55!" he said, pulling his hand back when she tried to snatch it away.

"Fifty-five bucks?" she asked "Like I can afford that, I don't have a job!" of course, this was a lie. She could easily afford it but she refused to ask her father for money, as she was trying to prove her independence to him. "Umm…" she continued "I could see if Tifa would buy it, she loves Lifestream as well… that is, if you need the money that badly."

Vincent nodded.

At the end of the day, she was pleased to remember that she would be going out with Tifa. Tifa worked at a small café just out of town and would treat Yuffie to a milkshake or coffee before her shift every Thursday. Yuffie jumped as her phone rang and fumbled to answer it. "He-Hello?" she asked, nearly dropping the phone, her hands moist with condensation from her milkshake.

"Hi." Was the reply. A male voice, that was unusual. "It's Vincent."

She nearly dropped the phone again, this time with shock.

"Hi… Vincent…"

"Did I, uh… did I call at a bad time?"

She snapped back to normal at this. "No, no of course not. How are you?" she asked rushedly.

"I'm alright. I was just wondering…" he said slowly "…if you'd talked to your friend about the Lifestream ticket yet?" Yuffie's face fell. Of course he'd be asking about that, why else would he call her?

"No, not yet."

"Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow then." And with that, he hung up.

Yuffie did sms him back eventually, as his number was now saved in his call list.

_Hi vince :) asked tifa about lifestream, she said to call her. Her number is…._

She put her phone on her bedside table and threw herself on her bed, too tired to even check her emails, and closed her eyes. She groaned, realizing that she hadn't eaten dinner yet and she was, in fact, starving. Oh well, food could wait. Her phone made a little beep, a reply from Vincent.

_She couldn't go in the end but thanks anyway._

She typed a reply to this:

_Sorry about that  hope ur not too annoyed._

She decided to make dinner, hell, even instant ramen would do, she was starved. She ate slowly, she was exhausted and lost in thought. Who'd think that liking two guys would take this much out of you? No, wait. Make that one… she didn't _really_ like Vincent, did she? She checked her phone again, another message popped up.

_Not annoyed, it's not your fault. Just pissed off that I wasted $55._

She sighed.

_In other words ur annoyed, Vinnie._

Boys were really stubborn when they wanted to be. Another sms arrived as she was doing her dishes.

_Maybe._

She smiled, she'd won their first, mini sms war. Then a thought crossed her mind, how did he get her number in the first place?

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_As always, please review… reviews are love. Thanks so much to those who've been reading so far _


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Still not owning FFVII… unless the rights are underneath this keyboard… checks under keyboard nup. Oh well…

_Halfway point! Woohoo! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far. Have my babies… and Vincent's. And Cloud's. Anddd…. Reno's. In fact, the entire cast's. Go for your life, son._

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Finally, it was Friday. What was so important about it? Oh yeah, the concert. Yuffie wondered if he had sold the ticket yet, then quickly dismissed the thought and went back to chipping off her nail polish. This could keep her amused for _hours_. Luckily for her, she had classes with Cloud all day. Thank God. She pulled out her Bio book and began on her prac writeup, intent on actually _doing_ some work today. Her father didn't mind paying the school fees… so long as she passed.

After quite possibly the most boring Biology lesson to date, she flung her bag dramatically to the cafeteria floor and ate the Crunchie bar that she found in her pocket. Yum. Much to her disappointment –yet also relief- Vincent wasn't at school today, for the first time in ages, she could spend a recess with Cloud, Tifa and the rest of the gang without Vincent interfering. Not that she minded, of course, but she was intent on having quality time with her friends.

As usual, she listened to Aeris chat about God-knows-what to Cloud, gazing lovingly into her eyes. Tifa was at basketball training, it was unlikely that she'd even have time to talk to Yuffie except perhaps a quick 'hey, what's up?', you cold tell she was positively holding her breath for _that_. She gazed out the window longingly, waiting to be dragged away again, only to realize that he wouldn't. How could he when he wasn't at school? She felt a familiar tap on the shoulder and turned with a jerk, her heart raced "Vincen-" she started. It was Aeris. She pointed to her cupcake which had been sitting there for a good 10 minutes now. "Are you gonna eat that?" she asked sweetly.

"No, go ahead." She replied monotonously, "excuse me."

She walked down to gym. At least this way, she could catch the end of Tifa's game before the bell went. She passed Reno and Elena, the people that Vincent usually associated with. They were talking about him, it seemed.

"When'd they break up?" this was Elena.

"Weeks ago. Apparently she'd been sleeping with whatshisface… Hojo." stated Reno.

That's right; Vincent's girlfriend –apparently ex girlfriend now- went to a different school. What was her name again?

"I'd never expect _that_ from Lucretia, she always seemed really nice…"

The bell sounded. Great, what a waste of recess. She was already dreading lunchtime.

Luckily, Tifa was finished with her sports training by lunchtime so there was conversation aplenty. Cloud and Aeris were suspiciously late. Suddenly, as if on cue, Aeris came slamming through the cafeteria doors, yelling at Cloud.

"Why didn't you tell me about that band? It's as if you want something else in your life that I'm not a part of!"

Cloud sighed and took another bite from his sandwich; he always managed to keep his cool, even when others were yelling at him. Call it a gift. "That's _exactly _what it is. I need to be able to do things for myself."

Aeris glared at him, venom dripped from every word. "Fine, Cloud. If that's what you want, _fine_."

This was the first time that Yuffie or Tifa had _ever_ seen Aeris in such a foul mood. They both glanced over to Cloud quizzically. He sighed and continued eating. It surprised Yuffie that he managed to eat the entire time that Aeris was yelling him. It was actually kinda cool.

As she was walking out of the school gates, heading toward the bus stop, a hand touched her shoulder. This time, it was Cloud.

"Want to go to town? The new Lifestream CD just came out."

She nodded. It had been ages since she had gone anywhere with Cloud after school or on a weekend and being a Friday night, it was almost like a date. She brightened at that thought and happily followed Cloud to his car. She loved going driving with him, every now and then he'd do something unpredictable –and probably highly dangerous- but, hey, he was worse with his motorbike- he showed off compulsively. As per usual, she fiddled with his car radio and ended up putting on one of _Thirty Year Sleep_'s demo CDs. She wondered why Vincent had been in such a hurry to quit, it looked like they would be going somewhere.

After a few minutes, Cloud turned off the radio.

"Hey!" Yuffie snapped, reaching to turn it back on. Cloud's hand stopped her.

"We broke up."

She blinked. "What?"

"Me and Aeris broke up." He sounded disappointed but also… relieved. Yuffie sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"You know…" she said quietly "I was always really jealous of you two…"

"Mm?" Cloud replied, now concentrating on the road again.

"I always thought you had it made. She was always friendly, really beautiful, intelligent… and so are you. You both seemed to have everything going for you."

They sat in silence until they arrived in the city centre. He stopped the engine and pulled the key out with a jerk.

Yuffie always found it impossible to be sad or even remotely quiet when she was in Midgar. The town was always so busy and the lights from the shop displays were so bright that one could never tell if it was daylight outside anymore, not that it mattered. The shops were nearly always open. As they walked into the busy CD shop, she could see a massive Lifestream cardboard cutout near the window. She nearly swooned, Sephiroth –lead vocals and lead guitarist- was so attractive. No wonder he was so popular in the underground music scene, the mainstream music scene had no place for rock music, only techno and dance music and perhaps the occasional Hip Hop song here and there. This slightly run-down music shop was the haven for anyone even slightly 'alternative' or people who loved rock music, it was filled with shelves and shelves of CDs, vinyl LPs, posters and there was even a bar and stage there for gigs. Everybody who was anybody as far as the Emo, Punk or Goth scene went knew about this place and practically lived there. Hell, even Sephiroth was seen there sometimes. Then Yuffie realized something- she had lost Cloud.

She searched through the rows of shelves with no luck. Great. This was just like him to leave with no reason… except usually he went overseas for a few months, not just hiding in the mall somewhere. She noticed that Reno was there and sat herself down across from him. It didn't matter that she barely knew him, he seemed friendly enough.

"Hi." She said, smiling at him.

He looked puzzled as to why she was there. "Hey…" Puzzled but pleased. He took another drag from his cigarette.

'Great.' Though Yuffie, remembering his reputation for hitting on anything which moved. "Umm…" She started, "Have you seen Cloud anywhere?"

He looked slightly disappointed for a moment "Nope, can't say I have." He smirked suddenly "Anything I can help you with…?"

Ok, he was hot but…. No. She opened her mouth, about to put him into his place when she heard another voice from behind her.

"Yuffie…?" This was without a doubt Vincent's voice. She smiled and ran up to him, desperate not to be alone with Reno.

"Why weren't _you_ at school today?"

No reply. Well _that_ was a conversation killer. He sat down across from Reno, she'd been sitting in his seat.

"Have you seen Cloud by any chance?" she asked.

He shook his head. "You may join us if you wish; he's probably looking for you too."

"Why do you say _that_?"

He shook his head. "I don't know." Yuffie glanced over at the table and then across the room, there were no free seats anywhere.

"So um… where do _I_ sit?" she demanded.

Reno raised an eyebrow "You can sit in my lap if you want…"

She turned away, not noticing the evil look Vincent gave him. Cloud was somewhere in the distance and sure enough, he seemed to be searching for her. She rushed up to him eagerly, giving a little wave to Vincent when she left. Vincent lit up a cigarette and walked off to the bar.

Reno smiled to himself, "now _this_ is interesting…"

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_This chapter was so difficult to write… hopefully it was worth it. As I mentioned at the top, this is about the halfway mark. I don't want to write something too long… and you'll probably kill me by the time you get to the end anyway. You'll see why. As always, reviews are love. Thanks for reading _


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Final Fantasy, I wouldn't be living in a tiny unit.

_Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in ages…A lot has happened, first exams, then moving out of home. The –important- thing is that I'm back to writing now and I intend to finish this fic._

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Vincent returned from the bar, moments later, with some concoction consisting mainly of vodka and lit up another cigarette. He glanced over to see Yuffie shoving Cloud playfully as they left the store. It took him a moment to notice that Reno was even speaking to him.

"...She's pretty cute, huh?" he said with a wink. Vincent took a drag of his cigarette, trying to hide his annoyance at this. He didn't want Reno taking an interest in his friends.

"I guess. She's like a younger sister to me."

Reno leant forward conspirationally

"So… you won't mind if I have a shot at her, then?" he said in a half-whisper, almost challenging Vincent to disagree.

"What about Cloud?" he asked slowly. He knew he had Reno there. Reno sat back in annoyed silence for a moment. He looked pointedly at Vincent's cigarette.

"Can I have a drag?"

Yuffie loved hanging out with Cloud. In the littlest, most subtle ways, he'd be a complete gentleman. He reminded her of a knight from the medieval days in some ways. She giggled at this thought.

"What?" he glanced over at her, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Nothing."

He stopped walking suddenly. She looked up and realized that they'd reached her front door. He gave her a slight smile.

"Thanks for getting my mind off things…" he said… wait a sec, was he getting _tongue-tied?_ Yuffie smiled back and gave him a hug. He stood there awkwardly for a moment before returning the hug.

"By the way…" he started "I'm going back to Nibelheim tomorrow…" Yuffie looked up at him, he was avoiding eye contact.

"How long are you going for?" she asked slowly.

"Four months."

"Four months?" she demanded. That was the longest time in the whole world, how could he just leave her like this? Despite her pride and anger, she could feel her eyes start to water. She cursed herself for letting him see her cry.

"I'll be back before you know it." He wiped the tears off her cheek slowly, causing her to cry more. She said nothing for a moment.

"Cloud… I'm…" she took a second to compose herself "I'm going to miss you so much."

He looked down at her sadly. "Give it a day and you'll have forgotten all about me."

He gave her a hug and walked on home, leaving her crying on her doorstep. Staying only made it worse.

The next morning at school, she barely spoke to anyone. Aeris wasn't at school and Tifa had sport stuff to do, as usual. She decided to venture out of the cafeteria and sat outside at her favourite tree. She lay under its cool shade, resting her eyes for a moment when a voice called out to her.

"Hey Yuffie!" she groaned upon hearing his voice.

"What is it, Reno?" she said dryly.

"Nothing in particular." He said slowly, he seemed to be looking for something… "Where's your boyfriend?" he asked after a moment.

"I don't have a boyfriend, moron." She stood up, ready to walk away.

"That's right, Cloud is _Aeris's_ boyfriend, isn't he?" Silence.

"They broke up." She said quietly.

"So now you're in, I guess." Said Reno with a smirk. He glanced at something behind her for a moment.

"Me and Cloud are just friends." She could feel her face flushing with anger and embarrassment.

"Oh, ok then." He smiled at her sweetly. Yuffie couldn't help but blush. Reno was quite an attractive guy, he was just a jerk. "I was gonna ask you something, by the way…"

She looked over at him cautiously, waiting for him to make some perverted remark.

"Well… 30 Years Sleep's last gig is tomorrow night and I don't have anyone to go with, so…" was he asking her to Vincent's gig?

"So you wanted to go with me?" she asked, slowly. She was being cautious that he wasn't just trying to play some mean joke on her or something.

"yeah," he smiled again "so you'll come with me?"

"alright." She sighed. She stepped back a little, only to walk into someone. She turned to see Vincent standing there. Yuffie practically jumped out of her skin, how long had he been standing there?

"I was about to tell you about that gig…" he said quietly "… but I seem to have been beaten to it." Yuffie turned to see Reno walking away, whistling to himself.

Once again, she sat under the tree with Vincent, its old roots providing a comfortable area to sit. She chatted with him about Cloud's leaving and her conversation with Reno. As usual, he said barely anything but nodded occasionally to show that he was listening. She ignored the lunch bell ringing and continued talking through her lessons, wishing that she could stay at this old tree forever. She looked up at it; nearly every leaf had fallen as winter was approaching. Yet somehow, it was still so beautiful. She fell asleep, leaning on Vincent's shoulder, not able to notice the ghost of a smile on his face. He propped her up against the tree, gently and left. When she woke up, school was over and he was gone. She looked down, noticing something in her lap and smiled…it was one of his tickets to the Lifestream concert.

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**End Chapter 6.**

So what did you guys think? I apologise for not updating this sooner… this isn't the best chapter but I –promise- it'll get better.

-sigh-

So much to do… 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I'm neither rich, nor Japanese, nor exceptionally good with technology…

_Sorry for the sheer crappyness of the last chapter _

_Hopefully this one will go better…_

_I also realise that I made it seem like she went to school on a Saturday, ignore this. It's set on a Monday and the gig is on the Friday night, not the next evening. Sorry for all the mistakes._

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Yuffie entered the same music shop as she'd been to with Cloud days before. She loved how the atmosphere would change completely on a Friday night. Even on a Friday afternoon, it was generally laid back and still seemed pretty much like a store. However, come the evening the shop would close and it was basically a club where the underground music scene and alternative kids would come to life. The room was filled with smoke and the faces of people that Yuffie saw at almost every gig. She weaved her way through the people to find Reno and Vincent.

"You look amazing" she heard Reno whisper into her ear. She turned to see him dressed in a white shirt and black pants. Same old, really. She felt her face flush but was quickly distracted by the sight of Vincent entering the room. She rushed up to him like a little puppy.

"Hey," she smiled at him happily. He looked like real rockstar. She blushed and looked her feet. She felt his arms whisk her into a hug. She could smell the vodka and cigarettes on his breath and assumed he was drunk, not seeing his menacing glare at Reno as he hugged her.

"I'm glad you're here tonight…" he said quietly in her ear, causing her to blush more furiously than before. Reno watched with amusement before finally approaching the two. Yuffie felt his arm curl around her shoulder and gave Vincent a look that seemed to say 'save me!'  
"Hitting on my date, I see." Mused Reno, an amused smirk on his face.  
"Wha-? It-it's not like that!" stammered Yuffie. Vincent gave Reno a warning look, then excused himself to say hello to the other band members.

Yuffie and Reno walked slowly to a table near the bar. She despised the fact that she looked so young, whereas Vincent and Reno looked easily in their 20s and were never carded for ID. Vincent and some other guys from the band staggered to the table, bottles of bourbon, vodka and god knows what else in their hands. She couldn't help but giggle as they drunkenly told her and Reno stories about their early band days and kept offering her drinks. She may be tiny, but she was also Wutaian, it would take more than a few bourbons to get her trashed. Suddenly, Vincent looked at the clock mounted on the wall.

"We're onstage in a few minutes, we'd better go." The entire group walked backstage with some difficulty and Yuffie and Reno were alone. Again.

The show was, as always, amazing. All of them had such an amazing stage presence. Every one of their fans was there, the place was packed and the floor shook whilst people moshed along to the music. Yuffie squirmed with the embarrassment of being that close to Reno, they were literally forced together at the front of the stage. With every movement of the crowd, she was pushed further and further into him. He grinned at her mischievously and she watched the musicians intently, trying to ignore how furiously she was blushing.

After the show was over, all of the fans swarmed the band, making it impossible to talk to them. She stayed at the side of the stage with Reno, waiting for the crowd to die down a little.

"That was amazing…" she sighed, contentedly.

"I could make it _more_ amazing…" said Reno slowly. Yuffie opened her mouth to say something but he put his finger to her lips, leaning in slightly to kiss her. Suddenly, Yuffie was pulled up onto the stage. She was about to make some kind of complaint as, like most normal people, she didn't especially like being lifted up by complete strangers… then she realised whose arms they were.

"V-Vincent…"  
"Hold out your hand…" he said slowly. He put something onto her palm and clasped her fingers around it slowly. She opened her hand to see a guitar pick sitting there.

"My last one."

Yuffie smiled, embarrassed and looked at her feet, unaware of Reno's venomous look to Vincent.

"I'll treasure it." She said truthfully, hugging him tightly. He smelt of sweat, cigarettes and vodka. Something she would usually hate.

"You smell worse than the moshers" she laughed at him. They stood there for a moment before Reno took Yuffie by the hand.

"C'mon Yuffie, I'll drive you home." He said, trying not to show his annoyance at Vincent. Vincent glared at Reno for a moment and looked down at the smiling Yuffie.

Once again, she felt strong arms turn her away from Reno and flushed slightly as Vincent kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Yuffie." He said quietly.

She walked back to Reno's car in a daze, her ears still ringing and her eyes wide with disbelief. The next morning, her head ached and she was filled with confusion, who did she like best: Cloud, Reno or Vincent?

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**End Chapter 7.**

I hated this chapter unbelievably when I posted it, so I revised it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are love, people.

xxx


	8. Chapter 8

**Discalimer: **Final Fantasy? Me? NEVER… shifty eyes

_Another chapter… -sigh- it's so hard to keep writing this. Major writer's block. Ahh well, the fic's nearly finished now _

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The dishes and laundry were really starting to pile up now. Yuffie looked at them and then sighed with defeat. There was no way in hell she was going to do any housework tonight… or in the next week… instead, she turned on her trusty laptop and went back online for the first time in ages. She opened a packet of pocky and returned to her computer, a window on her instant messenger had popped up. She read it and smiled.

**Requiem: **Hello

**Pockygirl: **Hi Vinny

**Pockygirl: **The gig was amazinggggg.

There was a pause as he continued to type.

**Requiem: **Glad you enjoyed it.

She wandered off from her computer and walked to the kitchen, he was taking a while to reply. Yuffie looked through the mess she had once called a kitchen in search for a mug, putting the kettle on. She found one that didn't have caked on hot chocolate stuck to the rim and gave it a quick rinse, just to be on the safe side.

A few minutes later, she returned to the computer.

**Requiem: **… so it's mother's day today.

**Pockygirl: **

**Pockygirl: **stupid commercial holidays.

She didn't dare remind him that her mother was long dead, he'd remember sure enough.

**Requiem: **…I'm sorry. I forgot about your mother.

Yep, she was right, as always.

**Pockygirl:** don't worry about it, vince.

She decided to change the subject, people usually got awkward about this subject.

**Pockygirl: **so are you spending time with your mum today?

**Requiem: **my parents are overseas. I've been home alone for a few months now.

**Pockygirl: **I see… that says it all, reall.

Yuffie was surprised that she'd forgotten that fact, considering he'd mentioned it the other day.

**Pockygirl: **so aren't you bored by yourself?

**Requiem:** not really. I'm hardly ever home anyway… and I like to be by myself.

**Pockygirl: **loner :p

**Requiem: **…

**Pockygirl: **haha I was joking, btw.

**Requiem: **ok

The one advice Aeris had ever given Yuffie about guys was that you should only talk about three things: you, them and you AND them. She decided to see if that would work.

**Pockygirl: **to tell the truth vinny…

**Pockygirl: **I was always a bit scared of you. You always seemed really intimidating.

**Requiem: **to who?

**Pockygirl: **to some of my friends and stuff

**Requiem: **probably because I'm nothing like them.

**Requeim: **'wow! Someone different!' of course they'd be intimidated. They're so used to being exactly like eachother that it's only natural they'd be scared off by someone who's actually original for a change.

She didn't see that coming. It looked like she'd struck a nerve. Her fingers moved in a frenzy, typing in a response.

**Pockygirl: **I meant that you always had this sort of cool, unapproachable feel about you

**Pockygirl: **anyway, my friend's aren't all exactly the same.

**Requiem: **they seem quite similar to eachother.

**Pockygirl: **but not the same.

**Requiem: **similar, nonetheless.

_No-one _criticised her friends. After all, they'd treated her pretty well over the years.

**Poclygirl: **who are you to talk, Vincent Valentine?

**Pockygirl: **you talk big, as if you're the only fucking original person out there but the truth is, you're trying as hard as you can to escape the emo label.

Her hands moved by themselves, as if they were possessed.

**Pockygirl: **but the truth is, you won't escape the label. You play music for the same scene that you're trying to escape. You fight it as much as you can but everyone still calls you "that tall emo kid".

She didn't want to keep talking, knowing she was only making things worse, but the words kept coming.

**Pockygirl:** you're just a hypocrite, Vincent. You're still just like everyone else.

**Pockygirl: **no, you're worse. You're selfish. You treat everyone else around you like they don't count because they're too emo or whatever for you but you still expect them to take care of you. No wonder Lucrecia dumped you.

Yuffie gasped. At that precise moment, she wished that she could somehow erase the entire conversation and start again.

**Requiem: **I'm going now.

**Requiem: **goodnight yuffie.

And with that, she had pretty much ended any hopes she'd had on ever being friends with Vincent, let alone ever dating him. She felt like crap. Finally, the kettle had boiled. She made herself some green tea, only to decide she didn't want it anymore. Instead, she went to bed, laying sleeplessly as she stared up at the ceiling.

"shit."

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_Aha! The plot thickens evil laughter_

_Tell me what you think, yes?_

_Thanks so much for all of the support so far, by the way!! It means a lot to me, right now._


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy? Moi? Never.

_Second to last chapter, you'd better get ready for this because the story is about to take a big turn around._

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School again. Dreaded school. Oh how she despised school. Hence the reason she was writing it all over her notebook during class instead of actually doing any work. She and Vincent were both stubborn, perhaps too stubborn, and she was most certainly not planning on speaking to him again anytime soon.

Aeris wasn't at school today and, as per usual, Tifa was doing her usual sporting stuff during recess and lunch. Yuffie gave up and sat at the usual tree, alone for once. She ignored everything around her, too angry to notice the usual quiet calm she had enjoyed here so many times before. Instead, she pulled a purple pen out of her pencil case and started drawing on her clothes, uniform and arms… this wasn't so bad, she was making little cartoons of herself killing zombies. Quite amusing, really.

Reno approached her after a few minutes, leaning against the tree with his usual smirk.

"Hey princess."  
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked dryly.

"Well _you're_ not your usual sunny self today," he mused.

"Fuck you, Reno."

"Ooh! PMS much?" she swung her fist at him without thinking. Warm blood trickled from his nose. He laughed and wiped it off on the back of his sleeve.

"Nice right hook, you've got there. Are you a descendant from a family of boxers or something?" he teased. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under right now. His expression changed.

"So why are you here by yourself, anyway? Where's Vincent?" he asked slowly.

"I don't know," she shook her head slowly "…and I don't really care."

His eyebrows shot up.

"Really? I thought you guys really liked eachother. That's part of the reason why I would hang around you so much…"

"And the other part?" she asked slowly, genuinely curious.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." He winked at her. "You are excessively adorable, though."

"Heh. Right." She laughed.

"But seriously, cut him some slack. He's going through a lot right now, his psycho ex is giving him hell, his parents are harsh on him…." He paused for a moment "… and he's manic depressive. He's not in a very good place at the moment."

That explained a lot, really. Still, she refused to bend over backwards for him just because he had it tough. Hell, life wasn't treating her very fairly but _she_ didn't expect people to treat her differently.

She heard another set of footsteps coming near the tree. Vincent. He looked at her, apologetically and opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted.

"I'm going home now, Reno," she said, not even glancing at Vincent.

She strode away from the tree and left the school campus. Screw whatever Vincent had to say.

The next day, he wasn't at school. Or the next. In fact, he didn't return for the entire week. She desperately wanted to talk to Vincent. He wasn't answering his phone or going on the internet or anything, he must have been furious at her. She knew she'd been a bit harsh on him, she knew she should apologize too.

Finally, Friday came. She went back out to the usual hangout in the city and one of the girls she'd seen at the gig the week before went up to her.

"You know the guys from 30 years sleep, right?" she asked, excitedly. A whole group of 15 year old girls, probably her friends, were watching Yuffie intently. She nodded.

"So I heard one of them died!" the girl said, excited by the gossip around her. The entire room seemed to look at Yuffie now. The girl continued. "Which one was it?"

"Excuse me, I have to go."

Yuffie pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket, she had to make a phone call.

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_Review?_


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Final Fantasy VII, OR its characters.

_If you don't like angst, leave now. This story is not ending well._

**Chapter 10.**

"Reno…" she said, distressed, "is everything alright? I heard that someone died and-"

Reno cut her off, suddenly. "..ncent…" he muttered, almost incoherently.

"What?"

"Vincent… hung himself on Tuesday night." There was silence.

"No seriously, Reno, what happened?" she asked, laughing nervously.

"I am being serious." Her breathing quickened, he could hear her start to cry. "I have to go, Yuff…" he hung up. The lights went green on the street, cars and people moved around her in all directions but she scarcely noticed. Yuffie was filled with a numbness for a moment, then began to cry hysterically. Tifa, not knowing exactly what was going on, took her gently by the hand and drove her home.

She woke up in Tifa's bed the next morning, the pillow soaked with tears. Soft tears cascaded down her cheeks yet she said nothing, nor made any effort to wipe them away. Images, memories of things they'd done or said ran through her head. The silence filling the room was unbearable. Reno entered the room, moments later. He looked dishevelled and obviously hadn't slept at all the previous night. Yuffie tried to greet him but somehow, the words wouldn't leave her lips. Instead, they remained tangled in her throat. He lit up a cigarette, the smoke filling the room.

Finally, Tifa broke the silence, entering with some food.

"I made you breakfast." She glanced at Yuffie with pity but said nothing more. Yuffie was hoping this was all a dream, a bad dream, or better yet, she hoped that this was merely a mean joke of Vincent's. That's right, any minute her phone would ring and with a slightly amused tone in his voice, he'd say 'I got you this time' and it'd all be ok again. The tears finally stopped falling, Yuffie got out of bed and hugged Reno gently. The first time she'd actually initiated physical contact with him.

A few days letter, her phone did ring. She answered slowly and uncertainly but the voice on the other end was warm and gentle.

"You'll never guess who this is…" came the male voice, smoothly through the phone.

"Is this…?" she asked excitedly. Her dreams had come true, it really was just a joke…

"It's Cloud."

She stood there in shock, her eyes watering. Of course, who did she expect it to be? Then a realisation hit her.

"You're calling me from Nibelheim? Isn't this costing you a fortune?" she asked slowly. Cloud never did stuff like this.

"Aeris told me about Vincent, I was just checking that you were ok."

Of course, why else would he be calling her. Still, she needed Cloud now more than ever.

"I'm fine." She said quietly. There was a moment of silence, they both knew that she wasn't fine at all.

"Well, I've got to go, I'm on a payphone and it looks like I'm about to run out of money. I'll be back before you know it, Yuffie. With that, there was a clunk as he hung up the phone and the line went dead.

Her every movement was mechanical, regardless of whether she was eating, showering or speaking. Yuffie denied being upset, blaming her zombie-like actions on insomnia, yet everyone could hear her cry at night. She'd say seemingly random things which had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the conversation and would find herself lost in the middle of the city because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going

Finally, a few weeks later, she found the jacket she'd worn to the last 30 years sleep gig. It still hadn't been washed. She hugged it longingly. A piece of paper fell from the pocket. The ticket to the Lifestream concert, the ticket she had stuffed into her pocket so carelessly. The ticket Vincent gave her. It fell from her hands to the floor, barely making a sound. Tears flooded from her eyes but she stayed silent.

END CHAPTER 10.

_Reviews are love._

_xx_


	11. A note to the reader

Ok… to tell you a couple of things:

I didn't randomly kill off Vincent because I didn't know where to go with the story (in case you were wondering), I actually wrote the last chapter immediately after I wrote the first.

I understand that the characters are a bit OOC a lot of the time, I shall explain this below.

There was a boy I knew from my school. Tall, long black hair, pale skin… he looked exactly like Vincent. A bassist in a local rock band that was actually quite popular where I lived at the time. Anyway, I had lots of arguments with my friends and my friend Alex (my "cloud") went to Japan on exchange for four months. Because of this, I started talking to this boy on whom I had the most impossible crush and made friends with him. He used to talk to me near where his friends hung out, by a big, old tree.

I used to call him Vincent, sometimes to his face, because he looked and acted a lot like Vincent Valentine… he started calling me Yuffie as a joke, saying that I acted just like her because I was childlike and loud.

After a few weeks, we were pretty much inseperable. He'd just been through a nasty breakup and was also arguing with all of his friends. He offered to sell me a ticket to see Story of the Year with him but, because I was strapped for cash, I couldn't go.

I knew him for years, but more as an acquaintance than as a friend, seeing as one of my best friends (drummer in his band) hung out with him a lot. Their band broke up the april of that year and I went to their last gig, one of the times when he was most affectionate toward me and we spent most of the night hanging out and being stupid.

That may, he suicided. I'd had an argument with him 2 days before and refused to speak to him. Some little 14 year old groupies of his approached me in the street and asked who had died, I was so confused that I called my friend, the drummer in their band, to find out what had happened…. He'd killed himself before I'd had a chance to apologize to him.

This story circulates entirely around the last 2 and a half weeks of his life, we spent nearly everyday together until we had that argument. I don't want him to be forgotten and I didn't want to forget what it was like being around him and how amazing my friends were, Alex actually did call me from Japan the day he found out. I was the only person he called the entire time he was there.

So, yes, the characters are OOC and it does end abruptly, but this is a true story. Reno pretty much plays the part of a few of my different friends who I talked to at the time. This story is incredibly special to me but it was also incredibly difficult to write… I'd spend a lot of time just crying in front of my laptop, not wanting to write anymore. This is also why I'd take big gaps between writing chapters.

I hope this clears everything up for you.

- Miss April Valentine.


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